Improvement in supply-pipes for steam-pumps



'J'. M. BAILEY.

v I SUPPLY-PIPES FOR STEAM-PUMPS. I No.17? 612. Patented May 23,1876.

N. PETERS, PHOTQ-LITHOGRAPNER, WASMINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

JAMES M. BAILEY, OF PITTSBURG, PENN SYLVANIA.-

IMPROVEMENT IN SUPPLY-PIPES FOR STEAM-PUMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 177,612, dated May 23,1876; application filed April 5, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES M. BAILEY, of the city of Pittsburg, county ofAllegheny, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in Supply or Suction Pipes for Pumps, of which thefollowing is a specification:

This invention relates to certain improvements in the ordinary supply orsuction pipes .commonly attached to the barrel or cylinder of theordinary lifting-pump; and it consists in connecting. tosuch pipe avacuum-chamber in which the exhaust steam of the engine is received andcondensed, and in which, partly by the action of the pump and partly bythe condensation of the steam, a partial vacuum is maintained, saidvacuum'holding the water in the pipe as high as the chamber, and keepingit flowing upward toward the pump-barrel, so as to be in readiness to bedrawn into the barrel, thusrelieving the pump from the jarring andstraining to which it is ordinarily subjected by the water falling backin the suctiompipe. In addition to this, the exhaust steam is conveyedaway and prevented from escaping into the mines, where this device ismore especially designed to be used.

In the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, Arepresents an ordinary supply or suction pipe, which is designed to beattached to an ordinary lifting-pump, and to lead to thewater-reservoir. B is the vacuum-chamber, attached to the suction-pipeby means of the short contracted pipe 0. To the upper end of the chamberB is attached a pipe, D, which leads to the engine, and serves to conveythe exhaust steam to the vacuumchamber.

The operation of the improvement is as follows: The exhaustion of theair in the suction-pipe by the action of the pump causes a partialvacuum in the chamber B, which is filled by the water when it rises inthe pipe to the height of the chamber. The pressure of the atmosphereholds the water in the chamber B so long as the air is exhausted fromit, and, as it is placed as near to the juncture of the suction pipe andpump -cylinder as it is possible to get it, it is evident that the pumphas a head of water constantly to act upon in close proximity to thelower valve of the cylinder, and thus the jarring and straining to thechamber in the short interval between the strokes of the piston. v

The same dit'ficulty might obtain upon the entrance of the exhaust steaminto the chant ber, if it were not for the pipe 0.

On the entrance of the steam the first tendency would be to expel thewater from the chamber, but before this could be done through the smallpipe the expansive force of the steam would be destroyed by itscondensation, which would also enlarge the vacuum to be filled withwater. 1

I do not claim, broadly, the application of a condensing-chamber to anysupplypipe, my

invention being limited to the combination of such a chamber with thesupply or suction pipe commonly used in connection with the ordinaryliftingpump.

I claim The chamber B, provided with the pipe 0 and pipe D, forconveying the exhaust steam from the engine, in combination with theordinary suction-pipe, whereby the water in the suction is kept inmotion and maintained at a high level near the pump-cylinder by thevvacuum in the chamber D, produced by the action of the pump-piston andthe condensation of the steam, substantially as described, and for thepurpose set forth.

JAMES M. BAILEY. Witnesses:

READE W. BAILEY, J AMES J. JOHNSTON.

